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I began thinking today of all the times I have said that life is not fair, of all the things that just didn’t go my way, all the times I had tried to do the right thing only to find out it wasn’t good enough. I’m sure you’ve been there, mumbling and complaining of all those things that didn’t go the way you thought they should.

Today, though, I wasn’t mumbling or complaining. Today I was being thankful! Yes, you heard me right, I was being thankful for all the times that life was not fair.

Jesus said in John 14:6 I am the Way, the Truth and the Life, and let me tell you Life isn’t fair.

If Life was fair I would have had to pay the price for all the sins I’ve committed. But Life wasn’t fair! He came and paid the price for me so all I had to do was believe in Him and I now have eternal Life in Him. John 3:16

What isn’t fair is the fact that we have so allowed the good news of the Gospel to be perverted that even those that sit in the pews are more conscious of their sins then they are of the One that remembers them no more. Heb 8:12

If Life was fair I would constantly have to work to repay Jesus for what he had done for me, but Life isn’t fair. So now, just like the thief who hung beside Jesus with a nail through both hands so he couldn’t work and a nail through both feet so he couldn’t run errands for the Lord, I too have to realize free means free.

What isn’t fair is they sang the song Just as I Am during the altar call. I got up saved, a new creation, a born again believer in the only begotten Son of God, and instead of being discipled into who I was in the Kingdom, they gave me a mask to cover up the old man whose funeral we had just attended at the altar. Then they taught us where sin abound so does fear, punishment, condemnation and judgement. (I think that’s out of the New American Religious Version if I’m not mistaken but I can’t find it in the bible) instead of Romans 5:20 that says where sin abounds grace does much more abound!

If Life was fair I would have to carry my own sickness and disease but Life isn’t fair and He carried our sickness and our pain. Is 53:4 and Matt. 8:17

What isn’t fair is we keep begging Him to do what he has already done. He told us to preach that the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. He told us to heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, and cast out demons. We have preached the message of salvation till are blue in the face but when is the last time you ever spoke Life into a dead man? Or when was the last time you spoke to cancer or a headache and told it to go in the name of Jesus? It isn’t fair that the King of Kings isn’t getting what He paid for. It is our job to enforce the victory that He won. Freely we have received, freely give. We can no longer permit our experiences override the simple Truth of the word of God. We have preached a form of Godliness but denied its power. 2 Tim 3:5

If Life was fair God would give me a sickness to teach me a lesson in life or to help me out in a situation, but Life isn’t fair and Jesus never made anyone sick. As a matter of fact, He healed them all, every time, always. Don’t believe me? Watch this.

What isn’t fair is we’ve believed the lie that God wouldn’t give us more than we can handle. Yes, that’s a lie. The scripture says in 1 Cor 10:13 No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God [is] faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear [it]. Here is the temptation: this sickness, this storm, this whatever came from God. No! It came from the devil. The way of escape is Jesus. Can you see his Grace is always greater than anything? His name is above every name.

If Life was fair; Jesus would have never left after 40 days and would have stayed with us forever, but Life isn’t fair and He left and poured out His Spirit to live inside me. He promised to lead me into all Truth and never leave me or forsake me. John 16:13, Heb 13:5

What isn’t fair is we continue to mix law and Grace putting up the very veil that was torn the day Jesus was crucified. 2 Cor. 3:15 We continue to put new wine into an old wineskin and can’t figure out why it bursts.

What isn’t fair is that we go to church seeking God, but all we get is church. Three songs and a sermon, four things that start with C, principles for moral living, bible verses cherry picked and taken out of context, ugh!

What isn’t fair is that I get to experience, at least in part, the supernatural abundant life that my King promised in John 10:10, when all I truly deserve is the fires of Hell.

Oh yes… I’m thankful that Life isn’t fair!

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Three months ago I began a process of healing. I found myself with a torn ACL and meniscus. Although this could have been a terrible time, it has been one of the most interesting, exciting and illuminating in my life.

I know sitting around with your leg in a brace, not being able to do what you have been used to in the past doesn’t sound like much fun, but let me explain.

Most of my days have been spent just unraveling truth from the Word of God and spending time in His presence. The greatest thing He has shown me is TRUST. I am learning to trust more and more in the finished work of the Cross than ever before. It really all hinged on His righteousness.

I feel I should explain that while I have been recovering I have been unable to perform my regular duties at work. Naturally, this has caused a significant loss of income. I say this not for any sympathy but to show you the goodness of my Father and His promises.

Before my surgery, the doctors told me that I would most likely be completely unable to attend work throughout most of my recovery period, but by the Grace of God I was given favor and a light duty desk job to help with the bills. I knew in my heart that everything would work out just fine but I also knew that I would have to Trust Him like never before for finances just to get by.

I truly believe in tithing 10% of my income to my local church, and it is the first thing I do when I receive each paycheck, so it really began to bother me when the tithe money just wasn’t there. This is not to say that I was not trusting God with my finances, so all you pastors and preachers please relax before you become short of breath or choke on your coffee. I simply said that the money just wasn’t there.

I do get it. Tithe 10%, the first fruits. So how can I say it wasn’t there? Well something was going to have to be late or unpaid. I have discovered He is God the Father not the Godfather. So as I was on my way home and began talking to my Daddy, letting Him know that it was really bothering me that I felt like it wasn’t there to give Him the first 10%. He brought up my biggest lesson again. TRUST. He said “Can you trust me with your finances even if you don’t tithe? My response was just one of peace, of course I could. He promised if I would seek first the Kingdom and His righteousness all these things would be added to me. Mat. 6:25-34

The next morning I received a phone call letting me know I had an extra $500 waiting on me. Not because of anything I had done or not done, but just because He is good.

My question to you today, can you trust Him? Even when you’ve done right, even when you’ve done wrong, or even when you’ve done nothing at all? Can you trust that His grace is sufficient even though you don’t deserve it?

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If you are like me you’re always looking for a good time, a place for a party. You just want to feel good. What can the parable of the prodigal teach us about that?

If you haven’t read the first part of this series titled Which Son are You? You can find it here.

This is the second part of a series originally written by Phil Drysdale you can find the original articles here.

Verse 31 of this parable is the most sobering verse and yet, the best news too. “And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours.’” You see, this reveals that the older brother, while always with the father, didn’t necessarily realize it. He was complaining that the younger brother got a party but the father’s response shows that he could have had a big party with the father all along if he so desired.

Desire

The key word here is “desire.” The older brother didn’t desire the right thing. He wasn’t pleasure motivated but rather acceptance motivated. He worked for acceptance rather than realizing that he was accepted. It is in relationship with the Father and enjoying Him that we fulfill our calling in life, it is in our pleasure in Him that we find satisfaction. In some way the younger brother had the right idea. He was pleasure motivated. We look at this as a terrible thing and that he was the lesser of the two brothers for leaving home and turning his back on the father, but really he was seeking what he was created for, he just never knew it was right there at home. The older brother, however, had it much worse… he never sought pleasure, he was still working hard for his father’s acceptance. If you are fighting to earn approval from the Father you will never step into the pleasure of the Father. But if you are seeking pleasure in the wrong place, the world, it at least is likely to lead to a place of returning to the Father, knowing that the world doesn’t satisfy.

I know that’s a hard pill to swallow but the truth is we were created for pleasure – God fills with you His joy with one purpose: that your joy might be complete (John 15:11). Even Jesus was motivated by joy (Heb 12:2). You experiencing satisfaction and fullness of joy in God is a big deal to Him.

I look at it this way, one son was standing next to the father with his eyes closed and all his senses deadened. The other son was running in the opposite direction but was using all his senses to find the fulfillment of his desire for pleasure.

Is it good that there are so many in the world, and in our churches, that are seeking pleasure from the world? No of course not; it’s tragic. But it at least means they haven’t hardened their heart to enjoying Him when they are in His midst. That is the greatest tragedies of all.

What’s our job?

We have a ministry to both brothers. It is our responsibility to point those that are seeking pleasure towards the Source of all pleasure, to bring people into an encounter with the One who loves them. Likewise, it is our responsibility to encourage those who are working for acceptance from the Father to know that they are fully accepted and that their only task now is to enjoy Him and all that He has done for them.

You see, the only thing worse than trying to fulfill your requirement for pleasure in the wrong thing, is not trying to fulfill it at all. The party is in the knowledge of the Father’s acceptance. Can you enjoy the party?

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For the last 2 months I have been constantly thinking of the parable of the prodigal son. I’ve actually tried to write on this topic several times before but didn’t feel like I had a firm grasp on what the Holy Spirit was giving me at the time. I understand the princeable of the the parable as it is often taught, but I really love to peel back layer after layer getting as much truth as I can out of the Bible.

The following will be a two parts of a three part series written originally by Phil Drysdale with some added by yours truly. You can find the original articles here, here and here.

It fascinates me that the parable of the prodigal son had two sons in it. We often focus so much on the son that turned his back on the father because that is the analogy for the one that is “lost”. However this parable was never about unbelievers… there were no unbelievers that Jesus was speaking to. He was speaking to the Jews, who at this time were the people of God. We forget that it was Paul who preached to unbelievers!
I think in light of this we should really be looking at the parable in a more introspective manner rather than at unbelievers outside the church (although I do agree the underlying principles of God’s acceptance etc are very applicable).

There are two sons in the story who aren’t connected to their father. They don’t seem to know what they have. One son is not finding any value in his relationship with the father and is definitely not enjoying himself, so he asks to be cut off from the father and pursues pleasure and entertainment in the world. The other son however, seems to be equally disconnected from the father and is working hard to gain his attention in the hopes that he might be noticed.

What can we learn from each brother?

The younger brother

There are many people in the church today who are like the first son, they are disillusioned, the church promised the world and they aren’t interested… they try and try to please God to gain His favour and attention, to grow to be more and more holy and they fail miserably because they are doing it based on their own efforts to keep the law. This leads them to leave and to pursue pleasure and acceptance in the world – this might not be a literal leaving, many of these people are in the church, you and I know them… you and I sometimes are them. Our prayer is that at some point, like this son, they realize that their own efforts to fill the void are useless and they need to return to God. Hopefully this time round they have a revelation of who they are, because this type of Christian is most commonly created by churches that teach law, works and effort – any church that tells you that you need to please God or that God will be unhappy with you if you fail to keep his law will be producing these types of Christians.

The older brother

The older brother is fascinating though, it is a different result caused by the same type of preaching. This brother continues to strive and work hard and doesn’t give up! There is no relationship created with God here, it only drives a wedge further between you and God when you try to work for His affection (1 Cor 15:56, Gal 5:4). This son is the saddest thing to see, as a son all along he doesn’t know it and worst still falls into resentment and betterment when other people allow grace to embrace them. When his brother comes back and accepts the grace of his father this son is filled with rage because he “deserves” more, not knowing that his righteousness is like filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6).

This is a dangerous breed of Christian, not only do they not accept grace for themselves but worst still they try to tear down those who do! They are like the Jews who became Christians and would go to the gentiles trying to convince them to follow the laws of the Old Testament that they might be right before God. Paul is regularly rebuking these Christians.

How it affects me

I often find a works mindset creeping in and effecting me in the ways of both the parable’s sons from time to time. This parable helps sober me and ask God to renew my mind to the reality that I am a son, it was nothing of my own doing and I deserve it just as much as everyone else… which is not at all 🙂 (Thank you Jesus!)

My prayer is that we can renew our minds to the reality of Christ in us, that we realize our sonship and become a third son in the church. One who believes in what Christ did for us on the cross, not because we deserved it or loved Him enough, but because He is good and loved us first. Believing too that He loved the guy we don’t really like and think deserves it less than us too!

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Earlier this week I made this statement. I was taught who I was supposed to be but no one ever told me who I was.

You see growing up I had the most amazing and caring parents a young man could ever ask for. I was the son of a preacher man, the child of an angel, and you know what they always say about preachers kids; their always the worst. Yes, this really is a stereotype, but in some sense it is true.

I was always taught who I was supposed to be. Do this, do that. Act this way when company comes, and my favorite, don’t embarrass me in the community. I was a Hutchinson and this is how we do it.

Now don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with giving your child instructions on how he should act or behave. I actually encourage it because the lack of discipline in this day and age is very obvious in society.

So what am I talking about? Well, somewhere down the line when I was a child, I gave my heart to the Lord. I was always taught how to be a good Christian, but this looked a lot more like learning how to be a good Hutchinson. You know, do this, don’t do that. It really sounded more like, thou shall and thou shall not. Then if I ever forgot I could always go to the dining room where the Ten Commandments hung proudly on the wall. Now I am not bashing the Ten Commandments or the law. The Law is holy. The only problem is man by himself can not live by them. If you do all you will find is sin and death. (Romans 3:20; 2 Corinthians 3:9) When you try to live by the law it frustrates Grace. (Galatians 2:21)

So what’s the solution? We all know how we should act, so how do we do it? It all comes from your identity and letting the Holy Spirit lead you.

So, who am I in Christ?

I am God’s child. (John 1:12)

I have been justified. (Romans 5:1)

I am united with Christ. We are one in Spirit. (1 Corinthians 6:19-20)

I am adopted by God. (Ephesians 1:3-8)

I have been redeemed and forgiven of ALL my sins. (Colossians 1:13-14)

When we know who we are and how to be lead by the Holy Spirit we will do more on accident then we could ever do on purpose. The next thing we need to learn is now to be lead by the Holy Spirit. We’ll talk about that more in another post.

To put in Chad’s english:

I’m a saint, not a sinner saved by Grace. I used to be a sinner who died with Christ and now I am a Saint! I am forgiven! For yesterday, today, and tomorrow. I am holy in Christ. My old life is gone, I am a new creation. I am loved. I am a son of the most high God.

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We all remember this one. The young woman pulling petals off the flower and thinking each time. “He loves me, He loves me not, till the last one was pulled. So what did the last one say?

This reminds me of the mindset of Christians today. When we do something good, we pull the flower petal that says “He loves me.” When we do something bad, we pull the other one that says “He loves me not.” At any given moment we could leave this earth. Oh no! What was the last petal we pulled? “He loves me not”. Then we have choice #2. We try so hard to do the right thing, only to fail and pull another He loves me not petal from the flower. At the end of the day or at the end of this life, did I get to pull one more of those good ones or bad ones?

Honestly this sounds like a Law- based approach to relating to God. Do something good and get blessed. Break the Law and get cursed. Does God really relate to us this way? For a long time, without even knowing it really, this was me. Until the day I threw up my hands and said “God trying to serve you and do what’s right is impossible. At least the world has pleasure attached to it.”

Yes its true, the world and sin are fun for a season and honestly more fun than all that religious stuff I was doing. You see it all goes back to having the right diet. I was eating from the wrong tree both times. For more on the right diet click here.

Welcome the Rose of Sharon, the flower of the New Covenant. As I began to pull petals from this flower, to my amazement they all said the same thing: HE LOVES ME. But today I messed up, I did something I know that I shouldn’t have done. When I go back to the Rose and grab my petal, to my surprise it always says “HE LOVES ME.”

Now, in no way, am I condoning sin, but at times in our lives we all fall, stumble and make mistakes. So our only hope is in Hope Himself. He is the one that walked out the perfect life. Jesus hung on a cross taking everything we deserved. His arms were wide open not folded with a snare. Today his arms are still wide open saying “I love you.”

We all, at times, I think try to impress God with our love for Him. Trying to compete with the lover of your soul is hard work. If you want to impress God only your faith in Jesus will do.

So next time you pull a petal from that flower make sure it’s from the Rose of Sharon. Put your faith in Him and watch as you turn the petal over. It will say “HE LOVES ME, HE LOVES ME, HE LOVES ME.”

Let’s start here: Gen 2:9 “And out of the ground the LORD God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life [was] also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” You see, there were two particular trees in the Garden of Eden, and all of them were pleasant to look at.

Let’s take a look at a few commandments you know the Law that Moses came off Mt. Sinai with:

Thou shalt not kill = good. Murder = evil

Thou shalt not commit adultery = good adultery = evil

Thou shalt not steal = good Thief = evil

We would all say the Law is good. Yes, but the opposite of good is evil, and they belong on the same tree remember? God told Adam, “For in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” In the New Testament,the Law is described this way:

Look at that, all this time we thought the Law was good, but is was also the knowledge of Sin (evil). So if the Law represents the tree of knowledge of good and evil, where is the tree of life? Look to the cross and find Jesus, He is the way, the truth and the Life, if you will, the Tree of Life. After we find Jesus and receive salvation by grace through faith, we have a tendency to return to the wrong tree hoping to please God. With a good heart and good intentions, all we do is end up finding sin and feeling condemned.